In 1935, when Paul Sears first wrote this book, drought gripped much of the United States and the Dust Bowl was at its worst. Recognizing that desertification was spreading all over the world he sought to explain the process as the penalty for allowing the natural elements to become unbalanced. Not just a book about the Dust Bowl, it is also about history, geography, ecology, philosophy and Man's relationship to the land. 1988 reprint edition